Steel decking is commonly used in the construction of the floors and roofs of buildings. The steel decking is formed from corrugated steel decking sections. On one side of the steel decking section there is an upright edge. On the other sides of the section of steel there is an envelope to receive the upright edge of the adjacent steel decking section.
The adjacent steel decking sections are bonded together. It is known to manually bond together adjacent steel decking sections with a manually operated button punch tool. The operator actuates the button punch tool and makes a dent in each side of the envelope of the steel decking section and also in the upright edge of the next adjacent steel decking section.
Various patents have issued with respect to such punch tools. Examples of punch tool patents are U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,617, issued on Mar. 9, 1999 to J. Parker; U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,932, issued on Apr. 10, 2001 to J. Parker; U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,469, issued on Jun. 4, 2002 to J. Parker; U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,108, issued on Apr. 4, 2006 to P. Bodwell; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,397, issued on Jul. 30, 1985 to R. Pratt (“the Pratt Patent”), the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. The Pratt Patent describes a button punch tool which is pneumatically power operated. This crimp tool has two movable links. There are two punches on the lower end of one of the movable jaws and two recesses on the lower end of the other movable jaw. A pneumatically operated movable piston is operatively connected to a plunger. The plunger connects with suitable toggles and, in turn, the toggles connect with an appropriate movable link. The operator can control the application of power to the pneumatically operated movable piston so as to move the piston and thereby move the plunger and thereby move the toggles and the associated two movable jaws. The two punches located on the end of the punch tool provide a power-driven crimp to the adjoining sections of steel decking and roofing.